Newton officials aim to finalize Riverside plan

Wednesday

Mar 28, 2012 at 12:01 AMMar 28, 2012 at 5:14 PM

After several sessions of tweaking and re-working, Alderman Marcia Johnson said she hopes the Zoning and Planning Committee will soon be ready to take a vote on the zoning of a mixed-use project at the Riverside MBTA.

Following a March 22 public hearing, several aldermen at a Zoning and Planning working session on March 26 said they’re concerned the project isn’t flexible enough.

Ashley Studley

After several sessions of tweaking and re-working, Alderman Marcia Johnson said she hopes the Zoning and Planning Committee will soon be ready to take a vote on the zoning of a mixed-use project at the Riverside MBTA.

Following a March 22 public hearing, several aldermen at a Zoning and Planning working session on March 26 said they’re concerned the project isn’t flexible enough.

“The idea of ‘don’t settle’ was very powerful to me,” Alderman David Kalis recalled from the hearing. “As we go through this, I think we should think about that more. Don’t settle – let’s try to make this the best it can be.”

Developer BH Normandy proposes to build a Mixed-Use 3/Tranist-Oriented District on a 9-acre plot of land adjacent to the MBTA rail station and bordering the Charles River.

The plan calls for about 200,000-square-feet of office space, 20,000-square-feet of retail space, 290 housing units, a garage and a community garden. Aldermen may adjust the maximum square footage for each area by 5 percent, so long as the total doesn’t exceed 580,000-square-feet.

Mark Boyle, Assistant General Manager for development at the MBTA, said the project is important for the service.

“The revenue for this is very important to the MBTA, which represents probably $270 million over an 85-year-lease of property. It’s a very important facility for the MBTA,” Boyle said.

Boyle said they could likely design a walkway for students to get to and from the Williams School safely via Grove Street.

At the public hearing, some residents asked for direct access to the development from the highway, but Clint Shuckel, director of transportation in Newton, said that kind of access is unlikely. The development would be accessible by Grove Street.

“Ramps have to have huge radiuses so people can exit the highway and the interchanges have to be huge,” he said. “The ramps take up a huge portion of the site.”

Aldermen and other city officials spent several hours on March 26 combing through the proposal and making adjustments.

Johnson said a lot of the factors will be discussed as the special permit process unfolds.

The committee will discuss the plan again at its next meeting on April 9 at 7:45 p.m. in City Hall.